#TFG taxes

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 12, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 13, 2024

I write a lot about how the Biden-Harris administration is working to restore the principles of the period between 1933 and 1981, when members of both political parties widely shared the belief that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. And I write about how that so-called liberal consensus broke down as extremists used the Reconstruction-era image of the American cowboy—who, according to myth, wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone—to stand against what they insisted was creeping socialism that stole tax dollars from hardworking white men in order to give handouts to lazy minorities and women. 

But five major stories over the past several days made me realize that I’ve never written about how Trump and his loyalists have distorted the cowboy image until it has become a poisonous caricature of the values its recent defenders have claimed to champion.

The cowboy myth originated during the Reconstruction era as a response to the idea that a government that defended Black rights was “socialist” and that the tax dollars required to pay bureaucrats and army officers would break hardworking white men. 

This weekend, on Saturday, May 11, Paul Kiel of ProPublica and Russ Buettner of the New York Times teamed up to deliver a deep investigation into what Trump was talking about when he insisted that he must break tradition and refuse to release his tax returns when he ran for office in 2016 and 2020, citing an audit.

The New York Times had already reported that one of the reasons the Internal Revenue Service was auditing Trump’s taxes was that, beginning in 2010, he began to claim a $72.9 million tax refund because of huge losses from his failing casinos.  

Kiel and Buettner followed the convoluted web of Trump’s finances to find another issue with his tax history. They concluded that Trump’s Chicago skyscraper, his last major construction project, was “a vast money loser.” He claimed losses as high as $651 million on it in 2008. But then he appears to have moved ownership of the building in 2010 from one entity to a new one—the authors describe it as “like moving coins from one pocket to another”—and used that move to claim another $168 million in losses, thereby double-dipping. 

The experts the authors consulted said that if he loses the audit battle, Trump could owe the IRS more than $100 million. University of Baltimore law professor Walter Schwidetzky, who is an expert on partnership taxation, told the authors: “I think he ripped off the tax system.” 

The cowboy myth emphasized dominance over the Indigenous Americans and Mexicans allegedly attacking white settlers from the East. On Friday an impressive piece of reporting from Jude Joffe-Block at NPR untangled the origins of a story pushed by Republicans that Democrats were encouraging asylum seekers to vote illegally for President Joe Biden in 2024, revealing that the story was entirely made up.  

The story broke on X, formerly Twitter, on April 15, when the investigative arm of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which promises to provide “aggressive oversight” of the Biden administration, posted photos of what it claimed were flyers from inside portable toilets at a migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, that said in broken Spanish: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.” The tweet thread got more than 9 million views and was boosted by Elon Musk, X’s owner.

But the story was fabricated. The flyer used the name of a small organization that helps asylum seekers, along with the name of the woman who runs the organization. She is a U.S. citizen and told Joffe-Block that her organization has “never encouraged people to vote for anyone.” Indeed, it has never come up because everyone knows noncitizens are not eligible to vote. The flyer had outdated phone numbers and addresses, and its Spanish was full of errors. Migrants who are staying at the encampment as they wait for their appointments to enter the U.S. say they have never seen such flyers, and no one has urged them to vote for Biden.

Digging showed that the flyer was “discovered” by the right-wing video site Muckraker, which specializes in “undercover” escapades. The founder of Muckraker, Anthony Rubin, and his brother, Joshua Rubin, had shown up at the organization’s headquarters in Matamoros asking to become volunteers for the organization; they and their conversation were captured on video, and signs point to the conclusion that they planted the flyers. 

Nonetheless, Republicans ran with the story. Within 12 hours after the fake flyer appeared on X, Republican representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Dan Bishop (R-NC) brought posters of it to Congress, and Republicans made it a centerpiece of their insistence that Congress must pass a new law against noncitizen voting. Rather than being protected by modern-day cowboys, the woman who ran the organization that helps asylum seekers got death threats.

The cowboy image emphasized the masculinity of the independent men it championed, but the testimony of Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actress also known as Stormy Daniels, in Trump’s criminal trial for falsifying business records to cover up his payments to Clifford to keep her story of their sexual encounter secret before the 2016 election, turns Trump’s aggressive dominance into sad weakness. Covering Clifford’s testimony, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times yesterday wrote that “Trump came across as a loser in her account—a narcissist, cheater, sad Hugh Hefner wannabe, trading his satin pajamas for a dress shirt and trousers (and, later, boxers) as soon as Stormy mocked him.”

In the literature of the cowboy myth, the young champion of the underdog is eventually supposed to settle down and take care of his family, who adore him. But the news of the past week has caricatured that shift, too. On Wednesday, May 8, the Republican Party of Florida announced that it had picked Trump’s youngest son, 18-year-old Barron, as one of the state’s at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, along with Trump’s other sons, Eric and Donald Jr.; Don Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle; and Trump’s second daughter, Tiffany, and her husband. 

On Friday, May 10, Trump’s current wife and Barron’s mother, former first lady Melania Trump, issued a statement saying: “While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments.” It is hard not to interpret this extraordinary snub from his own wife and son as a chilly response to the past month of testimony about his extramarital escapades while Barron was an infant.

Finally, there was the eye-popping story broken by Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow in the Washington Post on Thursday, revealing that last month, at a private meeting with about two dozen top oil executives at Mar-a-Lago, Trump offered to reverse President Joe Biden’s environmental rules designed to combat climate change and to stop any new ones from being enacted in exchange for a $1 billion donation. 

Trump has promised his supporters that he would be an outsider, using his knowledge of business to defend ordinary Americans against those elites who don’t care about them. Now he has been revealed as being willing to sell us out—to sell humanity out—for the bargain basement price of $1 billion (with about 8 billion people in the world, this would make us each worth about 12 and a half cents). 

Chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration Richard Painter wrote: “This is called bribery. It’s a felony.” He followed up with “Even a candidate who loses can be prosecuted for bribery. That includes the former guy asking for a billion dollars in campaign cash from oil companies in exchange for rolling back environmental laws.”

The cowboy myth was always a political image, designed to undermine the idea of a government that worked for ordinary Americans. It was powerful after the Civil War but faded into the past in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s as Americans realized that their lives depended on government regulation and a basic social safety net. The American cowboy burst back into prominence with the advent of the Marlboro Man in 1954, the year of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, and the idea of an individual white man who worked hard, wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone, was a sex symbol, and protected his women became a central myth in the rise of politicians determined to overturn the liberal consensus. 

Now it seems the myth has come full circle, with the party led by a man whose wife rejects him and whose lovers ridicule him, who makes up stories about dangerous “others,” cheats on his taxes, solicits bribes, and tries to sell out his followers for cash—the very caricature the mythological cowboy was invented to fight.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dicapiito]

I will never understand this mindset that one should be nice to someone like McConnell when he literally has wrecked America for his own racist heaven on earth.

Biden even tried to check on him and for McConnell to respond he was “ sand bagged”?

I just never get this “ be better and be above the GOP” when they literally overturned Roe V Wade, made sure to block Obama’s Justice picks, helped TFG win, among other shit and these types want to act like one should be kind? For fucking real?

Fuck McConnell and he really doesn’t deserve how well off he gets to be in his last years and on tax payers’ dime. Along with those who want to be “ the better man” when this parasite is holding on because he loves yt supremacy so much and he wants to achieve even more of his sinister goals like get the GOP back in the Executive Branch

[notes-from-wonderland]

For those of you who came in late:

1) Ivanna Trump fell down the stairs at her apartment building. She was well known for her preference to use the stairs as a form of exercise. Reports on her death indicated that she supposedly experienced a “medical incident” and fell down the stairwell sustaining injuries that led to her death.

2) Although she and TFG had been divorced for some time, TFG was - surprise, surprise - the executor of her estate. Apparently, she had made no other arrangements regarding the disposition of her estate in the event of her death. Essentially, as the declared executor- TFG had total control in deciding how to proceed. What happened next did nothing to improve the public's perception of him.

3) She was cremated. The mother of three of his children. His first wife. Things continued to get more questionable from there.

4) The funeral and subsequent burial raised more than a few eyebrows. The funeral itself was largely private- contained to family and select chosen mourners.

5) Remember: the body was cremated. That occurrence significantly reduces the overall weight of the body and the ease of carting around the ashes. And, yet, she was buried not with an urn or traditional scattering of the ashes- no, she was buried in a coffin. A very heavy coffin. One that apparently took more than a few healthy people to carry.

6) The final burial site of this heavy coffin supposedly containing just her ashes? She was laid to rest at a golf course which TFG owned that was located in New Jersey.

7) The reasons given/promulgated for such a curious choice was that a quirk of burial laws for this area gave TFG two distinct advantages:

First, as the executor of her estate- TFG had complete discretion over the body. Nobody- no local, state, or federal agencies - could disturb the remains without approval from TFG. In other words, he would have to be notified first.

Second, due to an apparent loophole in the tax code, TFG would be able to get significant breaks on the taxes for the golf course by a convenient re- categorization solely based on the fact that it was now a burial ground in addition to being a golf course. Something that clearly appealed to him.

[cyarskaren52]

-“Tory Lanez is innocent”(for the billionth time, if he’s innocent then why was he not man enough to testify in court during his own trial but bold enough to self snitch while tormenting Megan for three fqucking years?!?!?! He’s in prison. Go join your lover in there instead of riding his meat like the thirsty harlot you are)

-Chrisean & Blueface (enough is enough, they bring out the worst in each other, and if I had to hear anything about one or both of them I’m throwing my phone into the ocean… not really lol but seriously though)

-Body count(how many people do you really have sex with, like who cares?!? If you had sex good if you’re a virgin then that’s fine too)

-What do you bring to the table(who cares?!?)

-Is Cis a slur(um no it’s not get out your feelings snowflake)

- Gender roles(it’s not the 1950s anymore)

-Smash or pass bm & bw (who cares?!?)

-Cheesecake Factory is not a date(i wouldn’t mind going to the Cheesecake Factory)

-Dressing up for your friends birthday (like who cares?!?)

-Birthday make up(who cares?!?)

- nick cannon (seriously if I had to hear about him having another baby i stg)

- tfg(how is he got four indictments, guilty of sexual assault and still running for president for the third time?!?)

- dinner with jay z or a lot of money (haven’t we kinda settled this debate already)

- rage against the machine being a musical political group and being upset about it (what do you think the machine was about the dishwasher?!?) btw the same ones who are complaining about Ratm and Garth brooks being too woke are the same ones who have no problem with Ted nugent or Jason aldean

- Wearing bonnets or du-rags outside

- Use of corporal punishment against children

- Topics involving tax brackets none of our broke asses are part of

- For us straights, anything concerning the LGBTQ community because we REALLY need to mind our own fucking business

Fauxgressives (they ruin or attempt to ruin movements for their own agenda)

PLEASE SHUT ALL OF THIS SHIT UP and others BY 2024

[liberalsarecool]

If only the #NYT were this concerned about the debt when #TFG was ramming through tax cuts for corporations and rich people.

What about interest on the W Bush tax cuts and his two endless wars?

[rosielindy]

After watching Bowers testify Tuesday I’m gobsmacked to hear him say he’d vote for TFG again in 2024 because of all the “good things” he did pre-COVID. Working class and marginalized Americans and Mother Earth would like a word! 🤦‍♀️

“If he is the nominee, if he was up against Biden, I’d vote for him again,” Bowers told The Associated Press. “Simply because what he did the first time, before COVID, was so good for the county. In my view it was great.”

More context, from Robert Hubbell’s newsletter yesterday.

“Bowers is apparently referring to Trump’s signature legislative achievement—reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. That tax cut resulted in a loss of revenue that propelled the budget deficit to near-record levels ($1 trillion) before the Covid stimulus packages. Setting aside the efforts of Bush and Obama to save the economy from collapse in the Great Recession of 2008, Trump owns the largest deficit of any US president.

Other Trump achievements include:

Legislation ending an Obama-era regulation that prevented coal-mining companies from dumping debris and waste into nearby streams;

Legislation ending financial disclosure requirements for energy firms;

Legislation repealing an Obama-era regulation requiring internet service providers to seek customers’ consent before sharing private data;

Legislation prohibiting the Department of Education from adopting the Common Core curriculum (which was created by agreement among the states, not the federal government);

Imposing protectionist tariffs on China that were paid for by US consumers; and

Pardoning Jared Kushner’s father (Charles Kushner), Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

And let’s not forget the ban on travel from Muslim countries, separating children from parents at the border, and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a “wall to nowhere.”

Ah, yes, Rusty Bowers! Those were the “good old days” when government favored business over the people’s interest in privacy, the environment, education, and financial transparency, and when the president’s “cronies” received a “Get Out of Jail Free” card!”

https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/its-better-that-we-found-out-now?r=1g2iiu&utm_medium=ios

[garudabluffs]

Trump’s attorney was present during the search.

“No innocent explanation.”                           August 12, 2022

He {Merrick Garland] refuted right-wing conspiracy theories that claimed the FBI “planted” evidence by pointing out that Trump’s attorney was present during the search.                                                                                                                 He stated (by implication) that the search took place only after Trump refused to comply with a subpoena, refuting the narrative that the search was precipitous.He established that the DOJ attempted to maintain the confidentiality of the search, but that Trump violated that confidentiality.                                             He flipped the perception of which party is playing “hide the ball” by offering to make the information public, subject to Trump’s efforts to keep the information under seal.

READ MORE https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/no-innocent-explanation

84 Comments “Anyone who lived through the sixties, as I did, ought to be shocked to find themselves living in a world where Republicans believe the FBI violates people's rights.  The world is turned upside down.” 

+” Actually, as we saw in Rudy’s legendary press conference outside 4 Seasons Landscaping, they are the party of lawn order.”

++ ”Are the nuke documents payback for MBS’s investment with Jared?”

& “On MSNBC, Barbara McQuade former U.S. Atty for Eastern District of Michigan explained that the DOJ does NOT need tRump's permission to share the subpoena and warrant info. Usually it is the DOJ which does not want this information to be public, but in this case, the truth could set America free.”

_______________________________________________________________

READ MORE https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/what-a-week/comments#comment-8358937

&& ...the former President of the United States may be a traitor.”

“From~ ERIC ALTERMAN  “Here’s a free headline I’m giving away to all MSM publications. “Trump takes Fifth 440 times; faces FBI seizure of documents he illegally stole and hid in his basement, likely to hide additional crimes committed while in office; faces trials in Georgia for racketeering; in NYC, for attempted rape; just had his tax returns sent to Congress, likely to reveal even more crimes; complained that his generals were not enough like Hitler’s; and has been shown by January 6th Committee to be guilty of attempting to inspire the violent overthrow of the government he is pledged to protect: Why this is all bad news for Biden.”  

David Brooks apparently missed the Kansas vote. I think it’s much more likely that voters have had it with all this nonsense. He also misses that a majority of republicans are probably not ok with the possibility of tfg selling nuclear secrets to the kind of tyrants tfg falls for. Check out Stonekettle Station for a look through the eyes of someone that has experience working in national security.

Dan Froomkin of press watch also calls out media on their abetting of stochastic terrorism.

These three writers along with HCR and Mr. Hubbell help me keep my sanity, and I’m grateful to them.”

+&+ “Robert Kasvinsky7 hr agoLiked by Robert B. Hubbell

“I am concerned about the glib comments by several Republican Congressional Members and FOX News hosts minimizing the importance of Trump's handling classified materials. Their attitudes are quite simply stupid!I was an Air Intelligence Officer (AIO) in an A-4 Skyhawk squadron on an aircraft carrier off the Philippines when President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Prior to shifting to Rolling Thunder bombing missions  over North Vietnam in 1965, nuclear war was our principle concern. That was to be carried out under SIOP (1961-2003) – The Single Integrated Operation Plan.Implementation would have meant millions of deaths which made it a subject of intense interest to historians and social scientists, and the subject of many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.To shed as much light as possible on how the United States would have waged war in the nuclear age, the National Security Archive has responded to many declassification requests on U.S. nuclear war planning, especially the early history of the SIOP.High security walls around the SIOP have made this difficult but, nevertheless, significant information has been declassified. The Archive recently released (against appeals from the Defense Department) background showing how the SIOP was created and some of its basic features, as well as the problem of presidential control over nuclear planning. This included vintage material that was declassified but later reclassified in the early 1980s.The first SIOP was a massive nuclear strike on military and urban-industrial targets in the Soviet Union, China, and their allies. Since then, the plans have surely evolved into ever more complex organizational schemes encompassing various scenarios.Much of this information remains highly secret and may never be declassified. It has been reported that it is possible that no civilian official has actually seen the entire SIOP. To ensure tight secrecy when the first SIOP was created, its architects established a special information category – Top Secret - Extremely Sensitive Information (ESI), equivalent to today's Top Secret (SCI) classification. This ensured that only those with a need-to-know would have access to the documents. In fact, SIOP was so sensitive that its existence was unknown until 9 December 1973 when the New York Times published an article entitled “The President and the Plumbers” in which the White House raised fears that Daniel Ellsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) had mentioned it. [Had Soviet interrogators learned this earlier,Robert Kasvinsky7 hr agoLiked by Robert B. HubbellI am concerned about the glib comments by several Republican Congressional Members and FOX News hosts minimizing the importance of Trump's handling classified materials. Their attitudes are quite simply stupid!I was an Air Intelligence Officer (AIO) in an A-4 Skyhawk squadron on an aircraft carrier off the Philippines when President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Prior to shifting to Rolling Thunder bombing missions  over North Vietnam in 1965, nuclear war was our principle concern. That was to be carried out under SIOP (1961-2003) – The Single Integrated Operation Plan.Implementation would have meant millions of deaths which made it a subject of intense interest to historians and social scientists, and the subject of many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.To shed as much light as possible on how the United States would have waged war in the nuclear age, the National Security Archive has responded to many declassification requests on U.S. nuclear war planning, especially the early history of the SIOP.High security walls around the SIOP have made this difficult but, nevertheless, significant information has been declassified. The Archive recently released (against appeals from the Defense Department) background showing how the SIOP was created and some of its basic features, as well as the problem of presidential control over nuclear planning. This included vintage material that was declassified but later reclassified in the early 1980s.The first SIOP was a massive nuclear strike on military and urban-industrial targets in the Soviet Union, China, and their allies. Since then, the plans have surely evolved into ever more complex organizational schemes encompassing various scenarios.Much of this information remains highly secret and may never be declassified. It has been reported that it is possible that no civilian official has actually seen the entire SIOP. To ensure tight secrecy when the first SIOP was created, its architects established a special information category – Top Secret - Extremely Sensitive Information (ESI), equivalent to today's Top Secret (SCI) classification. This ensured that only those with a need-to-know would have access to the documents. In fact, SIOP was so sensitive that its existence was unknown until 9 December 1973 when the New York Times published an article entitled “The President and the Plumbers” in which the White House raised fears that Daniel Ellsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) had mentioned it. [Had Soviet interrogators learned this earlier, imagine how much worse the torture our POWs would have endured while imprisoned in North Vietnam – fortunately pilots knew only their three assigned targets.]According to one author the entire plan amounted to a stack of computer print-outs. That author was correct, because on 23 November 1963 the morning after Kennedy was shot,  we were shown a FLASH message (highest priority) from Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) from headquarters in Pearl Harbor – we had been placed on alert consistent with DEFCON 3 (Google DEFCON conditions). This meant that we were to work with our pilots on their assigned SIOP targets. AIOs having TS-ESI clearances and need-to-know saw the entire SIOP-63 printout containing the interaction of targeting, weapons delivery systems and their flight paths, nuclear detonations over targets, measurements of devastation, and defensive measures, among other elements.SIOP-63 was an integrated attack by strategic bombers, Polaris submarine-launched missiles, and Atlas ICBMs, among other delivery vehicles including carrier-based aircraft.All of this makes it understandable why presidents, even those with deep knowledge of military affairs, have had difficulty grappling with nuclear war plans. (All except "President" Trump, of course!)This is why I find it unconscionable listening to the disdain many Trump apologists voice about the importance of respecting the classification of our Nation's most important intelligence.Their ignorance and denigration of the FBI's counterintelligence experts may well be Trump's undoing because they will be able to track the provenance of each document.  Every Top Secret document is numbered, and there is a chain of custody for each: where, when and who handled the document, and "Lordy, there may even be fingerprints"!This isn't simply about Nuclear Top Secret (SCI), it is about ANY Top Secret (SCI) document. Everyone involved in the chain of custody, including the principal perpetrator, Donald J. Trump is in a world of trouble! The oaths they all swore were meaningless to them!”

“ Silver lining....after FBI discoveries at Mar-A-Lago, maybe Putin will consider swapping Brittany Greiner for Trump.”

“ “The truth is a resilient and irrepressible thing”. ~Congressman Jamie Raskin 7/29/22. If anyone wants a lift up while Robert takes a couple days for a much deserved break  from writing, listen to this 17 minute interview with our esteemed Congressman https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/segments/jamie-raskin-january-6th

Raymond Voith “maybe this will clarify classifications:

https://www.nrc.gov/security/info-security.html#class

[thedailyanthill]

Okay Dems, It’s Your Turn Today

Okay, has anyone checked the Dems pulse lately? Because they all seem DOA. I knew Biden was milquetoast when I voted for him (I was not about to vote for TFG, a racist, a bigot, an anti-Semite, and quite possibly a traitor to his country). I didn’t have high expectations, although I was excited about a woman VP, and an educator for a First Lady.

But here we are almost two years down the line and what have they done? Nothing. Because two supposed DemocRATs are gumming up the voting works. (An aside: if the Republicans can censure Liz Cheney and Kinzinger, why can’t the Dems do the same with Sinema and Manchin?)

Because his predecessor did so many executive orders and created new precedents, Joe could have gone in like a steam roller. But he didn’t. He pretty much made a FUBAR of our troops from Afghanistan. We’re on the brink of conflict with Russia and Ukraine and I have very little faith in his military capabilities.

He’s letting voting rights just slip through our fingers. He could and should end the filibuster. That should be only one EO away.

Infrastructure should only be one OE away. These are things that effect regular people (the 99% if you will) but the Rethuglicans will block anything to a. Own the libs and b. Anything that would cut into their kickback money.

Joe did not and has not pardoned Reality Winner, who heroically sacrificed her own career and life to expose Russian interference in the 2016 election.

He refuses to legalize marijuana federally, which would bring in enough revenue from its taxes to make a dent in the national debt. If you don’t like marijuana don’t smoke it. And people who will smoke/ingest weed against the law and drive are already doing it, although in far fewer numbers than drunk drivers.

He could improve on Obama’s AHCA and take on big pharma.

And have you heard him say anything about reproductive rights? Now I get that he’s a Catholic and doesn’t believe in it himself. But my dude, you represent a nation of beautiful and vital diversity- you need to check your beliefs at the door. You’re supposed to represent all of us - that’s what all politicians should be doing, representing their constituents not lining their own pockets.

(Until we get money out of politics we’re either going to be owned by Goldman Sachs or the Koch Brothers).

As for our well educated First Lady… she hasn’t even started her FL campaign.

And Kamala…. Crickets. I mean what is going on here?

I have Republican friends who are so terrified that this administration will be socialist (it’s not, see the part re money in politics). And of course “they’ll take away our guns.” (Insert eye roll). They couldn’t even take candy from a baby so chill out.

It’s going to be up to voters to actually change anything and we have to be out there in droves. Even though it’s for the lesser amount f two evils (which is still evil) but we can’t let this country fall back into the hands of the exponential greater evil. Don’t look to anyone to “save us” as we waited for two years for Mueller who didn’t do anything. This January 6 commission won’t save us either. It’s been a year and no one but the patsies have paid the price.

The Angry Ant thinks we’re pretty much screwed either way.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 15, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 16, 2024

April 15 is a curiously fraught day in American history.

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down a rebellion in the southern states.

In 1865, Lincoln breathed his last at 7:22 a.m., and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who adored the president, said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

In 1912 the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sank at 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic.

In 1920, two security guards in Braintree, Massachusetts, were murdered on this date; Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti would be accused of the crime, convicted, and, in 1927, executed.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the color line in baseball’s major leagues.

In 2013, two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding 264 others.

And on April 15, 2024, the criminal case of The People of New York v. Donald J. Trump began in Manhattan. 

For the first time in history, a former president is facing criminal prosecution. 

The case has been dubbed a “hush money” case by the media, but it is really a case about election interference. In 2016, shortly after the Access Hollywood tape in which then-candidate Trump boasted of sexually assaulting women became public, Trump allegedly falsified business records of the Trump Organization to hide payments to individuals who possessed damaging stories about him, especially about his behavior with women, before the election.

Then–Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had had an affair with Trump, $130,000 through a shell company. He also set up a $150,000 payment from the publisher of the National Enquirer to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claimed to have had an affair with Trump. That money would give the National Enquirer exclusive rights to the story, meaning they could decline to publish it and she could not take it elsewhere. This practice is known as “catch-and-kill.” 

Trump then allegedly falsified business records to reimburse Cohen for “legal expenses.” Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying those records. The case might last as long as 8 weeks.

In many ways, this trial is a vindication of the rule of law. Despite his many attempts to delay it, a former president is facing accountability for his actions just as any American should.

The trial schedule reflected that standard practice. Presiding judge Juan Merchan set out the terms of the trial, covering what information the jury can hear about Trump and reminding Trump that, per the laws of New York, if he fails to appear in court as required, a warrant will be issued for his arrest. 

But as jury selection began today, it was also clear that this is no normal trial. The names of the jurors will not be released outside the courtroom out of concerns for their safety, underscoring the degree to which Trump has urged his supporters to violence. And the country is so deeply divided over Trump and his movement that more than half of the first batch of jurors were excused when they said they could not judge the case impartially. No jurors were chosen today.

Trump has used this case—like his others—to try to undermine the rule of law. Rarely arguing that he didn’t commit any of the offenses for which he was charged in four different cases—two civil, two criminal—he has insisted instead that he is being unfairly prosecuted. The Democrats have rigged the judicial system against him, he repeatedly claims, and enough of his loyalists have bought that idea that today some of them urged Trump supporters in the jury pool to undermine the rule of law by lying to get on the jury, then refusing to convict (a plea that observers noted sounded like jury tampering). 

Trump’s effort to signal that he remains disgusted by the charges against him continued today. New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman noted that “[s]hortly before court adjourned for the day, Trump’s campaign sent out a fundraising email falsely claiming he had just stormed out of court.” But it was notable that only a few dozen of his supporters showed up at the court today, and they did not stay long. 

Trump has also refused to stop attacking the judge and other participants in the trial despite a gag order imposed by the judge. Today, even as prosecutors were asking Judge Merchan to find Trump in contempt for violating the gag order, Trump posted a video in which one of his allies attacked the judge’s wife as well as primary witness Michael Cohen. 

Judge Merchan has scheduled a hearing on potential violations of the gag order for the morning of April 23.

Trump is trying to undermine the rule of law not only out of apparent fear of the outcome of his trials, but also because his appearance in court is likely to hurt his popularity. Last month an Ipsos poll showed that 32% of respondents said a conviction in this case would make them less likely to support Trump for the presidency. And that is before we have heard any of the new evidence that various sources have said we will hear, and which, by the nature of the case, is likely to be sordid. 

Seeing Trump treated like any defendant is almost certain to damage his brand as a man who commands his surroundings. Today, Haberman noted: “One thing that is striking: Trump has used the previous court appearances in other cases to project an image of grandeur. That is hard to do in this dingy courtroom, which smells slightly off and where he is an island amid a sea of people.”

Further, the public nature of this trial will make it harder for Trump to present himself only through carefully curated appearances. Haberman also noted that Trump, who has repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe,” appeared to fall asleep during today’s proceedings. “Repeatedly, his head would fall down,” Haberman said. “He didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer…passed him. His jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack.” (While Trump was nodding off in court, President Biden was meeting in the Oval Office with Prime Minister Mohammed Shyaa al-Sudani of the Republic of Iraq, and then with Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic.)

Outside of this case, Trump’s image as a wealthy man is also crumbling. Today was the day by which Trump’s lawyers needed to prove that the $175 million appeals bond he posted against the $454 million judgment in the fraud case would really secure the judgment. Late tonight, his lawyers filed their justification of the bond, insisting it was secure and saying there was no need for the hearing about it, scheduled for April 22. Legal analysts on social media immediately found errors in the document.

Trump’s lawyers also filed paperwork today with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue more than 20 million more shares of common stock in the Trump Media & Technology Group. The price of the company’s stock has been dropping since the spike after the initial public offering of March 26. Upon today’s news it dropped another 18%. It has dropped 62% since public trading began. 

Although news from Manhattan took up most of the oxygen today, the Commerce Department also made a major announcement: through the CHIPS and Science Act it is investing up to $6.4 billion in a Samsung Electronics chip manufacturing and research cluster in Taylor, Texas. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the two proposed factories will create at least 17,000 construction and 4,500 manufacturing jobs.  

In addition to its historical significance, April 15 is also Tax Day. Biden reinstated the tradition of voluntarily releasing tax returns after Trump ended it, and today Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff all released their taxes, revealing that their salaries make up most of their income. 

Ken Thomas and Ashlea Ebeling of the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump campaign did not answer questions about whether Trump would release his tax returns.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dojoe-tokyo]

TFG SPORT” nylon jkt

size L

6800+tax

無地、レオパード(2色)、ヨーロピアンで

切り替えが入るナイロンパーカー

裏地は気の利いたカットソー地、

独特な組み合わせですが、意外とすんなり着れます

[assetmanagmentindubai]

The likely impact of VAT on the UAE hospitality sector Source: http://www.tfgassetmanagement.com/news/hospitality/the-likely-impact-of-vat-on-the-uae-hospitality-sector.aspx

TFG Asset Management’s latest article published on Hospitality Net covers the introduction of value-added tax. The article highlights the likely impact of VAT implementation in UAE hospitality businesses and the measures asset managers must take to facilitate any changes and mitigate against any negative consequences.

The main tasks of asset managers will be to ensure that operational performance is not affected and to prioritise the owner’s returns, simultaneously ensuring that the transition process is delivered in the most efficient way possible.

It is important to analyse the effect on the market and respond accordingly. Hoteliers should aim to avoid a price war with rivals in a bid to maintain present occupancy rates in any instance of declining demand.  

Asset managers will also have to ensure all operational and financial procedures are updated to prepare for the introduction of VAT. The asset management team needs to assist the hotel operator in day-to-day operations including staff training, VAT refund procedures, updating of accounting systems, and others. Failure to do so could end up costing the owner and operator in the form of penalties and operational issues.

[kpmgtoday]

The Fry Group Adds Head of Tax in Hong Kong

The Fry Group has appointed a Head of Tax in Asia. Starting in April she joins from KPMG and will be based in Hong Kong. The Fry Group (TFG) is a ... Delivered by KPMG Today (@KPMG_TO) Read more here Follow @KPMG_TO on Twitter to get latest updates

[blogtagz-blog]

Sipping fizzy drinks. Jamie Oliver’s Sugar Tax – TFG explores the most interesting parts of George Osborne’s budget http://bit.ly/2mu3rCC

[assetmanagmentindubai]

The likely impact of VAT on the UAE hospitality sector Source: http://www.tfgassetmanagement.com/news/hospitality/the-likely-impact-of-vat-on-the-uae-hospitality-sector.aspx

[assetmanagmentindubai]

The likely impact of VAT on the UAE hospitality sector

Source: http://www.tfgassetmanagement.com/news/hospitality/the-likely-impact-of-vat-on-the-uae-hospitality-sector.aspx

[assetmanagmentindubai]

Office Rental – Why is Dubai Sports City an ideal location?

Source: https://www.tfgassetmanagement.com/news/real-estate/office-rental-–-why-is-dubai-sports-city-an-ideal-location.aspx

Office rentals are slowing down due to reduced demand and supply growth. 2017 is anticipated to add 237 thousand square meters of Gross Leasable Area beside the existing 8.7 million.

Stable demand is still visible from larger corporations seeking high quality offices in the prime freezone. Dubai Sports City is an ideal location for business because its freezone location allows 100% foreign ownership and benefits from being tax-free, aside from import duties. Its improved transport infrastructure reduces the hassle with regard to parking.

Now the only office space in this location is the SOLO Serviced Business Center within The Bridge tower.  It is comprised of 72 offices and provides the option to lease virtual offices.